Berri Assures: Jumblatt in Majority, Gov’t Discusses Appointments, Electricity
On the track of blatant interference set by all her ancestors, US ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly went away from all diplomatic norms.
Clearly and boldly, she used her meeting with a Lebanese minister to squirt her poison all around the scene.
In her order of the day, Connelly insisted that: Lebanon must turn to a shelter for armed opposition members, and the Lebanese government must provide members of the so-called Free Syrian army with all their needs.
What an irony: an ambassador comes from over the seas to set strategies of relations between two brotherly countries and to erase with few words history of common interests that goes back to hundreds of years.
However, this is believable from a student in Jeffery Feltman's school of diplomacy of audacity.
In short, US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly met with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and called for "protecting all unarmed Syrian nationals, including members of the Free Syrian Army."
Berri: "March 14" Lost the Opportunity
This came as the Lebanese political circles are busy trying to find an outcome for both the issue of paralyzing the parliament and the scandal of extra undocumented money in the governments of both former Prime Ministers Fouad Siniora and Saad Hariri.
Meanwhile, the tone of escalation increased after quorum for Monday's legislative
session was thwarted by a boycott by "March 14" and MP Walid Jumblatt "National Struggle Front" bloc. The lack of quorum prompted Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the session until March 15.
In an interview with "as-Safir" Lebanese daily, House Speaker Nabin Berri announced that he withdrew his previous offer that he had presented to "March14" forces."
He further declared that he removes his hands also from MP Fouad Siniora.
Unveiling that "he gave up his proposal for the formation of a joint parliamentary-ministerial committee to resolve the dispute," he added that the opposition lost a golden opportunity to turn the page of the past,"
Berri also criticized "March 14 MPs' boycott of the legislative session, saying: ""March 14" MPs could have attended the legislative session and discussed other proposals and draft laws in order not to hurt the interests of citizens and then they could have withdrawn when we began discussing the draft law on the LL8.900 billion."
The speaker also pointed to his decision to go ahead with the proposal of Saniora and "March 14" team to correlate the two draft laws:
"If Financial Minister Mohammed Safadi completes the draft-law before March 15 parliamentary session, then I will put it on the agenda along with the $5.9 billion bill so that they are discussed and adopted together," he noted.
Commenting on Jumblatt's position away from the majority, Berri stressed that Jumblatt is still allied with the majority warning of attempts to harm the relationship between Jumblatt and the Speaker.
"Jumblatt is still with the majority but on the basis that each party has its own particularities and ideas," he added clarifying that "whoever thinks that he can get between Jumblatt and me is wrong and delusional."
"I do not advise anyone to try to break up this relationship," Berri told "as-Safir".
Aoun: Jumblatt Never Part of US
In parallel, "Change and Reform" bloc Head MP Michel Aoun stressed that "Jumblatt was never part of the majority."
After the weekly meeting of his bloc, Aoun remarked that the case of extra governmental spending should be tackled by the Finance Ministry and in turn referred to the government, which then hands it over the parliamentary finance committee before sending it to parliament."
He further reiterated his demand that the account records of the governments of former Saniora and Hariri be revealed and handed over to the Audit Bureau.
Gov't Meets Wednesday
At another level, government is scheduled to convene today in an agenda of 69 items on top of which are electricity and appointments."
In this context, "an-Nahar" newspaper reported Wednesday that Electricité du Liban decided to convey around 25 megawatts of electricity from Iran as of April until reaching 100 megawatts as of September.
Informed sources told the daily that the two countries need to strike the deal and wait for the establishment of a network that would connect Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
"An-Nahar" also quoted ministerial sources informing that PM Mikati and minister Safadi declared their support for the ship renting option and that the competent committee had decided to visit one company in Turkey and another one in the US.
On the appointment's level, "as-Safir" learned that the thorny issue of appointments seems to be fading away as the government will tackle the subject during its upcoming session at the Baabda Palace."
"The head of the Higher Judicial Council will not be from the previous disputed names," the paper stated.
Source: Lebanese newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
